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Taxi Impact went live a few months back and, at the time, its director Tim Dove promised to create the country's first professional—and fully national—taxi media network. And if its first major client is any guide, it's off to a pretty good start, with 2degrees employing the services of its taxis and taxi vans in Auckland and Wellington to spread the message about its mobile broadband offerings. Dove says it's great to get such a well-known and well-liked brand onboard first up and he's had a great response to the campaign so far, with a number of people and agency folk saying they have seen the taxis driving or parked around town, either in the CBD or further afield in the suburbs. And for him, this shows the major benefit of the medium: taxis travel around 1200km further per month than their nearest moving-media competitor, Mobile AdVert, and around 2200km further than a bus.

Malcolm Phillipps, head of product marketing at 2degrees, says partner and customer feedback has been great and the company is currently looking at expanding the taxi media network into other urban centres.

"Visually the taxis are extremely impactful and our Mobile Broadband sales are continuing to trend upwards, which is the ultimate test,” he says.

2degrees has already employed out-of-home to great effect in its first couple of years and Phillipps is confident the decision launch a large campaign using a new and as-yet unproven (in New Zealand, at least) out-of-home media format will continue that fine tradition.

“OOH advertising has been extremely successful for us with our Mobile Broadband proposition. We have used Bus Backs, Billboards and Adshels to good effect," he says. "What taxis give us is a new way to reach our target market, in a geographically targeted manner, where the mobility of taxis ties in perfectly with our messaging 'You're in the best value Mobile Broadband zone in the country'."

As well as the 2degrees campaign, Work Media has also launched its Auckland Transport – Sober Driver campaign in the CBD and South Auckland regions with TaxiImpact in an effort to raise awareness with the younger demographic about being a sober driver. And, like the roaming billboards for 2degrees, Dove says this campaign also has a fantastic synergy with the taxi industry.

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